Posts Tagged ‘Volkswagen’

I don’t want a vehicle which is smarter than I am, and I certainly don’t want one that believes it’s smarter than I am. Therefore, Cedric, Volkwagen’s driverless pod concept just unveiled by VW ahead of the Geneva Motor Show, is not for me.

I don’t particularly like so-called smart phones either, although I was forced to get one after my 14-year old flip-top kissed the floor and broke apart. Of course, part of the problem is that my body produces an unusual amount of electricity, even when I’m calm and comfortable. Vehicles are not quite so affected, but the driverless models are more sensitive. When I actually need a personal robot chauffeur, I probably will be too mentally foggy to care, but for now driving myself without assistance is both beneficial and enjoyable, and I mean to continue the practice for as long as it’s safe.

Not content with having lost its election at Volkswagen this past February, the United Auto Workers union has now set up an unrecognized local in Chattanooga, apparently in hopes that it can still coerce workers into demanding another election and voting to unionize. Twenty of the plant’s 3,200 workers have joined the local, apparently having never heard of Detroit or read why its nickname was once Motor City because of all the vehicles produced there before the union all but killed the industry.

I’m curious to see how long the union is willing to represent a handful of workers without collecting dues. I suspect the answer is: not a very long time.

So the United Autoworkers union lied to employees at a Volkswagen plant in Tennessee. This is undoubtedly true on several fronts. This is supposed to surprise us? Big Labor is acting as if the administration of His Oneness had already given it what it wanted. Now we just wait and see if the National Labor Relations Board does a damned thing about the complaint other than dismiss it.